The bar flew off my chest
like I was warming up. The secret? A new bench shirt? No, I wore
the same one that bore the mark of past failures. Creatine? Nope,
same as before. Basically, I owe some "thanks yous" to Louie
Simmons, Dennis Tsurumoto and Frank Cable. Louie for coming up with
the chains idea , Frank for helping me with my technique and Dennis
for handing off at my meet and in countless workouts and just generally
helping me through my training cycle.

The Problem

I've always been pretty
strong off the chest. The bench shirt just made my strong point stronger.
I'd get to the middle of the lift and gravity would say, "NOT " and I'd
hear the referee say, "take the bar." So what changed?

The Solution

I added chains to the bar on the speed day.

Frank taught me to lower the bar using my upper back
muscles.

I added a separate day for delt training to my routine
and also did a bit more direct pec work.

I've been using a Louie Simmons
style routine -a max effort day and a speed day for my bench for a while.
Doing so , I was able to take my bench from the 350-360 range to the 390
range. Unfortunately, I plateued there andseemd to plant roots.
Before this, I performed regualr progressive resistance bench work.
I'd could get just about anyting, within reason, off my chest but I'd fail
at the lockout. Since I am one of the few people that a) doesn't like to
train arms and b) was born wothout triceps the Simmons routine with it's
emphasis on lockout strength was a perfect fit. My problems were solved.....partially.
My lockouts got stronger almost immediately. I made the jump to 390 withing
about 12 weeks. Then I stayed there for a looooong time. The one thing I've
questioned about the Simmons system was the lack of direct pec work. In
recent articles, Lou has mentioned that some of his guys are benefitting
from 'illegal grip' benches. This made sense to me in that I've always
felt that keeping a strong point strong is just as important as making
a weak point stronger. Also, I felt that getting stronger off the chest
would help me move the bar through my sticking point even faster. Here's what I did.
On Wednesday, instread of the usual max effort work I did a regular progressive
workout including both shirtless and 'shirted' benches. On every rep I
concentrated on lowering the bar with my back muscles. Frank taught me
to acually pull the bar down to my chest. This leaves the pecs, delts and
tris with more energy to drive back up. Second, when I got to three reps
and below I paused every rep on this day. I used to do delt
work right after benching but this time did it a day later. The workout
consisted of behind the neck presses, front raises, lateral raises, bent
raises and a bit of rotator cuff work. This workout was brief, 30
minutes or so. The extra rest really helped as my shoulders got stronger
and several people remarked that I looked wider at the meet. (gotta
stay pretty!) Finally, on Saturday,
I did my speed benches as usual - 10 sets of three with 205-225 lbs
(52.5-57.5% of my 1RM of 390) on the bar. The BIG difference was
the addition of 40-100 lbs of CHAINS to the bar. The chains are set
up so that when the bar is on the chest al the chain is on the floor. As
you lift the bar the load is increased and you have to push harder to maintain
bar speed. All sets were done with closer grips - 18", 20" 22" 24" and
26" - than my contest grip. Also, we generally would add about 40lbs
to the bar for the last 2 sets. The first few sets are easy but the last
few make you fight to even maintain the speed off the chest. As usual, when
trying any new thing, I was a bit nervous on meet day. When I called for
402 on my second attempt, I sat down an mentally prepared for
a 30 second fight with the bar. I got that handoff, lowered the bar
and waited for the signal. "Press", and I pressed with everything I had.
The bar took off and actually sped up as it approaced the top. I
could actually feel my body pushing against the added resistance of the
chains but...THEY WEREN'T THERE!!! The same thing
happened with 413. John Ford, who has witnessed the debacle that
was my bench many times, told me later that he thought I was nuts when
I called for 413. I think the only one that was more surprised than
him went it flew up was me.If you are weak between the middle and the top
chains might be the answer for you too. I'm going to repeat
this experiment for the Nationals in July to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
My goal is 440 lbs. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.